Remember all of those deep thoughts I had last week? Some of those deep thoughts are centered around food. Part of the reason I have become a little food-obsessed is that I can’t dine-in at my favorite restaurants. The takeout and delivery options are most appreciated during the pandemic, but I miss the simple act of sitting down in a restaurant, enjoying the food and the ambiance. I’m sure I am not alone.
My husband and I are doing our best to support the local eateries by ordering takeout, but we’ve also been doing a lot of home cooking Actually I’ve been eating a lot while my husband/chef cooks. This doesn’t mean I don’t like to look for recipes; in fact, cookbook reading is one of my favorite bibliographic pastimes. And then I remembered writing a column a while back about summer produce and how much I enjoy summertime eats. With all our libraries closed, I don’t want to highlight print books, but I wondered: what if I could repurpose that past column and update it with e-book options? So, with apologies for recycling some of my writing (recycling is encouraged, so maybe it’s OK?), I offer a replay – with revisions of course – of a column published in May 2018. If you’ve memorized my columns (ha, ha, ha – that’s a good one), keep reading because all but one of the titles I write about are different from 2018. If you don’t believe me, there will be a quiz afterward. And here we go . . .
Summertime’s a-coming, and I can hardly wait. Why? Because I will finally be able to eat my favorite summer produce: cherries, peaches, plums, blackberries, melon, and corn on the cob. And the tomatoes, oh my goodness, how much better they are during the summer. I know that many of these items are available all year long in the grocery store, but let’s be honest. Watermelon in January will never taste the same as watermelon in July, and frozen peaches, while tasty, are never as delicious as the fresh ones. Winter has comfort food, but summer has BFF food (best freshy fresh).
Speaking of food, it seems that just about every type of food or dish has a special day of celebration. For May, I wasn’t surprised to find National Grape Popsicle Day, but National Coq au vin Day? This classic French dish of chicken braised with wine, mushrooms, diced pork and garlic gets its big day on May 29th. I don’t know about you, but this dish feels very autumn-y to me. Maybe November was full, so poor ol’ Coq au vin had to settle for May.
